Local Weather Conditions Create Structural Differences between Shallow Firn Columns at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica
Understanding how physical characteristics of polar firn vary with depth assists in interpreting paleoclimate records and predicting meltwater infiltration and storage in the firn column. Spatial heterogeneities in firn structure arise from variable surface climate conditions that create differences...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2073-4433/11/12/1370/ 2023-08-20T04:01:57+02:00 Local Weather Conditions Create Structural Differences between Shallow Firn Columns at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica Ian E. McDowell Mary R. Albert Stephanie A. Lieblappen Kaitlin M. Keegan agris 2020-12-17 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121370 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Meteorology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121370 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Atmosphere; Volume 11; Issue 12; Pages: 1370 firn density firn permeability polar meteorology Greenland ice sheet West Antarctic ice sheet Text 2020 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121370 2023-08-01T00:41:18Z Understanding how physical characteristics of polar firn vary with depth assists in interpreting paleoclimate records and predicting meltwater infiltration and storage in the firn column. Spatial heterogeneities in firn structure arise from variable surface climate conditions that create differences in firn grain growth and packing arrangements. Commonly, estimates of how these properties change with depth are made by modeling profiles using long-term estimates of air temperature and accumulation rate. Here, we compare surface meteorology and firn density and permeability in the depth range of 3.5–11 m of the firn column from cores collected at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica, two sites with the same average accumulation rate and mean annual air temperature. We show that firn at WAIS Divide is consistently denser than firn at Summit. However, the difference in bulk permeability of the two profiles is less statistically significant. We argue that differences in local weather conditions, such as mean summer temperatures, daily temperature variations, and yearly wind speeds, create the density discrepancies. Our results are consistent with previous results showing density is not a good indicator of firn permeability within the shallow firn column. Future modeling efforts should account for these weather variables when estimating firn structure with depth. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet MDPI Open Access Publishing Antarctic Greenland West Antarctic Ice Sheet Atmosphere 11 12 1370 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
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ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
firn density firn permeability polar meteorology Greenland ice sheet West Antarctic ice sheet |
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firn density firn permeability polar meteorology Greenland ice sheet West Antarctic ice sheet Ian E. McDowell Mary R. Albert Stephanie A. Lieblappen Kaitlin M. Keegan Local Weather Conditions Create Structural Differences between Shallow Firn Columns at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
firn density firn permeability polar meteorology Greenland ice sheet West Antarctic ice sheet |
description |
Understanding how physical characteristics of polar firn vary with depth assists in interpreting paleoclimate records and predicting meltwater infiltration and storage in the firn column. Spatial heterogeneities in firn structure arise from variable surface climate conditions that create differences in firn grain growth and packing arrangements. Commonly, estimates of how these properties change with depth are made by modeling profiles using long-term estimates of air temperature and accumulation rate. Here, we compare surface meteorology and firn density and permeability in the depth range of 3.5–11 m of the firn column from cores collected at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica, two sites with the same average accumulation rate and mean annual air temperature. We show that firn at WAIS Divide is consistently denser than firn at Summit. However, the difference in bulk permeability of the two profiles is less statistically significant. We argue that differences in local weather conditions, such as mean summer temperatures, daily temperature variations, and yearly wind speeds, create the density discrepancies. Our results are consistent with previous results showing density is not a good indicator of firn permeability within the shallow firn column. Future modeling efforts should account for these weather variables when estimating firn structure with depth. |
format |
Text |
author |
Ian E. McDowell Mary R. Albert Stephanie A. Lieblappen Kaitlin M. Keegan |
author_facet |
Ian E. McDowell Mary R. Albert Stephanie A. Lieblappen Kaitlin M. Keegan |
author_sort |
Ian E. McDowell |
title |
Local Weather Conditions Create Structural Differences between Shallow Firn Columns at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica |
title_short |
Local Weather Conditions Create Structural Differences between Shallow Firn Columns at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica |
title_full |
Local Weather Conditions Create Structural Differences between Shallow Firn Columns at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Local Weather Conditions Create Structural Differences between Shallow Firn Columns at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Local Weather Conditions Create Structural Differences between Shallow Firn Columns at Summit, Greenland and WAIS Divide, Antarctica |
title_sort |
local weather conditions create structural differences between shallow firn columns at summit, greenland and wais divide, antarctica |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121370 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Antarctic Greenland West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Greenland West Antarctic Ice Sheet |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Atmosphere; Volume 11; Issue 12; Pages: 1370 |
op_relation |
Meteorology https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121370 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121370 |
container_title |
Atmosphere |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
1370 |
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1774712341785477120 |